A Chinese satellite looking into the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 “observed a suspected crash area at sea,” a Chinese government agency said — a potentially pivotal lead into what has been a frustrating search for the Boeing 777.

China’s State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced the discovery, including images of what it said were “three suspected floating objects and their sizes.”

The images in the Strait of Malacca were captured on March 9 — which was the day after the plane went missing — but weren’t released until Wednesday.